A writer-mom's life is filled with a million and two distractions; sometimes she finds herself at the park, WRITING ON THE SIDEWALK

Mixing things up Melissa Manlove style

The San Diego Chapter of SCBWI had its first meeting of the year last Saturday. (I love groups that understand the REAL beginning of the year is in September, not January).

Melissa Manlove, associate editor at Chronicle Books brought a great big pile of gorgeous books to share. Such fun! Hooray for Storytime! And she has fabulous taste in books.

In her slush pile, Melissa often sees stories that somehow fail the audience… so the books she brought were examples of stories that encourage audience participation. These stories are fun to read out loud. They mix up our expectations. Just like Melissa did. Her presentation was as much of a surprise to me as the books she shared. Surprises are exciting and fun!

Each of the picture books she shared deserves it’s own write up, but some of the audience participation techniques she discussed were:

Talk to the audience (readers): invite kids to yell back to the main character

Get it wrong: Kids love to be right and to show off their impressive knowledge

I spy: Use the illustrations

Invite prediction: Guess! Figure! Think!

Sing-a-long refrains: “I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More” is still stuck in my head

Choose: Options embedded in the story

Invite actions that accompany the story, but from a sitting position for the sake of teachers and librarians!

Let the reader in on a joke: Readers can be smarter than the story’s characters

She also shared a few chapter books and novels–don’t forget your older audience either

Show, don’t tell: Your audience is smart!

Mix things up. Throw in a surprise. Crack yourself up.

By the way, Melissa is also a bookseller at Storyteller Bookstore in Lafayette, CA. Go find your independent neighborhood bookstore and make friends with the people who work there! Buy a book… or twelve